Audit: Millions Wasted In Iraq Contracts

Investigator Gives Snapshot Of The Uneven Reconstruction Effort That Has Cost U.S. Taxpayers $100B

(AP)  Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.

The audit released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, provides the latest snapshot of an uneven reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. It also comes as several lawmakers have said they want the Iraqis to pick up more of the cost of reconstruction.

The special IG's review of 47,321 reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars found that at least 855 contracts were terminated by U.S. officials before their completion, primarily because of unforeseen factors such as violence and excessive costs. About 112 of those agreements were ended specifically because of the contractors' actual or anticipated poor performance.

In addition, the audit said many reconstruction projects were being described as complete or otherwise successful when they were not. In one case, the U.S. Agency for International Development contracted with Bechtel Corp. in 2004 to construct a $50 million children's hospital in Basra, only to "essentially terminate" the project in 2006 due to monthslong delays.

But rather than terminate the project, U.S. officials modified the contract to change the scope of the work. As a result, a U.S. database of Iraq reconstruction contracts shows the project as complete "when in fact the hospital was only 35 percent complete when work was stopped," said investigators in describing the practice of "descoping" as frequent.

"Descoping is an appropriate process but does mask problem projects to the extent they occur," the audit states.

Responding, USAID in the report said it disagreed that its descoping of the hospital project was "effectively a contract termination," but that it had changed the work because of escalating costs and security problems. Mark Tokola, the director of the Iraq transition assistance office, also responded that the database the IG's office reviewed of Iraq reconstruction contracts was incomplete.

Bowen's office said its review was preliminary and that it planned follow-up reviews to investigate descoping more closely. Investigators said they were also looking into whether contractors whose projects were terminated by the U.S. government due to inadequate performance might have been awarded new contracts later despite their poor records.

Investigators said the database they reviewed lacked full data on projects such as those done by USAID, the State Department, and those completed before 2006. But they said the figures cited in the report offered a baseline in terms of unfinished Iraq reconstruction contracts.

"Adding contract terminations from these (other) sources would certainly raise the number of terminated projects," the report states.

The audit comes amid renewed focus in recent months on potential abuse in contracting government-wide, such as Iraq reconstruction. Last year, congressional investigators said as much as $10 billion - or one in six dollars - charged by U.S. contractors for Iraq reconstruction were questionable or unsupported, and warned that significantly more taxpayer money was at risk.

In recent weeks, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has been working with Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, on legislation that would restrict future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants; require that Baghdad pay for fuel used by American troops and take over U.S. payments to predominantly Sunni fighters in the Awakening movement.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, said the latest audit report points to significant U.S. taxpayer waste in current reconstruction efforts.

"The report paints a depressing picture of money being poured into failed Iraq reconstruction projects - contractors are killed, projects are blown up just before being completed, or the contractor just stops doing the work," she said.

[pentangyl]

We are never leaving Iraq!

Our corporation, The US and our controlling party sold Kuwait an oil drill bit, but this was not the typical drill bit that went straight down! This one also went acrooss! Kuwait was stealing oil from Iraq underground. So IRAQ went into Kuwait to protect their resources (Kuwait stole billions and flooded the oil market with Iraq oil). The US promised Saddam that they would not attack his army when they went to protect their assetts.

OK, so we lied!

After this Saddam was furious. We helped him come to power, then armed him and put him into a war with Iran because we were against the Ayatolla and his muslim legion. But then we sold weapons to Iran.

So Saddam was in the process of changing his official oil sales currency to Euros! Whao! No more US Dollar!

This would''ve sent prices soaring out the roof!

America prints ts own money, so paying for oil by SHELL and EXXON is only as about expensive is the ink and the paper, since the ones who own the FED also owns the oil companies! Thats right boys and girls the fed is a privately owned entity, not government owned. But now if it (oil) goes to Euros. It would undermine our financial system and devastate our economy within a week.

Therefore, Invaded!

You honestly think that we have went through all of this trouble and we are just going to Leave!

We''ve been planning this for decades!

If this is the Matrix, my eyes are open!

[j-whitman]

NAUcoming4U,,,, Totally correct

[naucoming4u]

NAUcoming4U,,, I''''m up by Sacramento, our roads aren''''t that bad.

Posted by j-whitman at 08:48 PM : Apr 28, 2008
..........

You''re lucky... because San Jose sucks!

But my underlying message was that I agree with you...

...the roads that "BagdadsHere" happily and proudly built for Saddam Hussein could not have been any better than the garbage that Halliburton is currently paving.

[j-whitman]

NAUcoming4U,,, I''m up by Sacramento, our roads aren''t that bad.

[naucoming4u]

BagdadsHere,,,,, Tenths of thousands ??? With your math I can imagine what the roads you build look like

Posted by j-whitman at 08:33 PM : Apr 28, 2008
...........

To give you a hint j...

...they''re probably slightly worse than the ones we have here in California. (and that''s pretty dammed bad)!

[alphaa10-2009]

What should we expect? The culture of corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan exactly parallels the corruption and deceit of the Bush regime.

The Bush legacy?

Bush is the individual who, in November, 2005, facing an assembly of his own party members critical of his NSA spying program, bristled like a teenager caught drinking after curfew-- "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It''s just a GD)((#@*! piece of paper!"

Is this figure, who claims to be president of the United States, the same who pledged an oath to "protect, preserve and defend" the document he calls a "GD)((#@*! piece of paper"?

[arlt1627]

Looks like you"ve missed a lot of history. We kept tenths of troops in Saudi Arabia when SADDAM HUSSEIN was threatening to invade that country. When we sent Saddam to the gallows we moved to IRAQ. With Kwait was the same.

Posted by BagdadsHere at 08:09 PM : Apr 28, 2008

And you have something seriously wrong with this timeline of yours. We left Iraq in 1991 and went back to Iraq in 2003......when did we move into Iraq AFTER we sent Saddam to the gallows?? Fuzzy run of history you got going here.

[j-whitman]

BagdadsHere,,,,, Tenths of thousands ??? With your math I can imagine what the roads you build look like

[j-whitman]

BagdadsHere,,,, I''ll bet you cried when your buddy Saddam was sent to the gallows -- You couldn''t get anymore paychecks from him.

[arlt1627]

So when did we invade Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to remove their royal families??? Am I missing something in history here? Could you please enlighten the rest of us with your amazing analysis of this situation! Love to hear it?

Posted by arlt1627 at 07:53 PM : Apr 28, 2008

Looks like you"ve missed a lot of history. We kept tenths of troops in Saudi Arabia when SADDAM HUSSEIN was threatening to invade that country. When we sent Saddam to the gallows we moved to IRAQ. With Kwait was the same.

Posted by BagdadsHere at 08:09 PM : Apr 28, 2008


Hey Buddy! Did you just read what you wrote...."Saddam was threatening to invade" so we came as a defender.....how is that even remotely close to the situation that is currently called "Iraq?" I know why we were there......clearly there was no INVASION of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait! You really need to get a clue.....sorry.

[rudy654-2009]

It is so interesting how this article has disappeared from the front page whilst some editorial on Obama not wooing the old folks remains.

Does anyone remember that before anouncing the war, Bush was caught on British television pumping his fist and saying "feels good"?

[arlt1627]

You Americans have not the fortitude to do what is right for the people you start out to help. You leave them to be killed."

In case you are wondering - no, I don''''t want to be their either, but I''''m looking for a responsible way to leave.


Posted by speakinup at 07:17 PM : Apr 28, 2008


If you''re not American, where are you from so we all can understand your perspective on this issue?

[arlt1627]

We will leave Iraq when the time comes naturally, just like we left Saudi Arabia, Kwait, etc. We must set the conditions for withdraw first. It would be a stupidity just get out and let Iran control Iraq.

Posted by BagdadsHere at 07:37 PM : Apr 28, 2008

So when did we invade Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to remove their royal families??? Am I missing something in history here? Could you please enlighten the rest of us with your amazing analysis of this situation! Love to hear it?

[getcentered]

How could McCain could say he was "honored and humbled" to have Bush"s endorsement?

Lets recap:

9/11 Terrorist attack..
The WORLD gets behind the USA to support whatever action, against those who caused this attack..

Bush declares WAR on the Taliban in Afghanistan..
Allies of the USA unite, and go into Afghanistan ready to kick some a**..

Bush declares WAR on Iraq..
The world allies question this decision, and are chastised by the Bush admin for doing so..

The world allies remove support in dismay at the decisions of the Americans to attack Iraq..
The US stands alone in Iraq...

Americans die in an unnecessary war in Iraq and the cause of the 9/11 terrorist attacks are lost in the minds of Americans........................

Can we say digress????? Just say it with me once....I found a whole new meaning......

Digressssss.......

[getcentered]

speakinup

Leave the "how we leave Iraq" to the military experts.

[getcentered]

speakinup

It is perfectly true that an Iraq withdrawal will require something very painful: admitting a colossal strategic mistake. This is the #1 unbearable disgrace for Republicans and all other core backers of the war and occupation. The #2 disgrace would be payment of reparations to Iraq through a UN or World Bank trust. #3 would be the outrage of the post-occupation Iraqi government resolving the oil issue on its own terms, possibly contracting French, Russian, and Chinese firms, while leaving US or UK firms on the sidelines.

Self-denial, vanity, fear to face the music, and greed are at play. It has nothing to do with US security. The fiasco has made us less secure, drained lives and money, and now we are the laughingstock of much of the world.

Don''t believe in polls? Well, how about the value of the US dollar on world exchanges?

Let Iraqis rule Iraq, whether by federation, partition, or unitary state. Any model we impose will crumble the day we leave, whether that occurs now or in 100 years. Iraq will not be pro-US, pro-Israel, or pro-anything we favor so long as we occupy them, or as long as we contrived to have privileged access to their oil.

Medieval Europeans wasted 250 years on their venture. Better to learn from them, plus from Britain''s troubles in Iraq in the 1920s onward, rather than repeat a futile imperial exercise.

The trillion plus we waste in Iraq could have done so much more for our security or economy if spent on just about anything else.

[speakinup]

getcentered - so how will you and Obama leave Iraq so that future potential allies won''t say, "you left Vietnam, and millions died. You left Iraq and x number died - why should I believe you will protect me. You Americans have not the fortitude to do what is right for the people you start out to help. You leave them to be killed."

In case you are wondering - no, I don''t want to be their either, but I''m looking for a responsible way to leave.

[getcentered]

This war in Iraq is EXACTLY what the experts (the CIA, Pentagon) said it was going to be.

Fools rush in and that is what we did going into Iraq, so calling the people wanting this war stupid or arrogant fits the bill just fine.

The military commanders do not want unnecessary deaths, but right now, they are on the ground in Iraq, by order of President Bush. People are dying all around our troops and they cannot do much about it.

If the experts said it would be this way, why did we not take the time to create a better plan? I think I know part of the reasons: "politics".

The people wanting this war needed it to BEGIN quickly or it might never come to pass.

How unfortunate for our brothers and sisters in the military that they can be wasted along side of Iraqi people without a known, true and just cause.

If you don''t think the public should be up in arms about the US involvement in Iraq then you%u2019re not listening and all the while you will resort to name calling and bashing the dissent to protect your honor for supporting incompetent leaders who push cursory policies.

If you think this war in Iraq is a "war by all those who love freedom" you are sadly mistaken.

Iraq is a fool%u2019s war. Getting out of the fools war will require the fools to be ousted, being replaced by folks who can actually reason.

"be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in" %u2013 Barack Obama

We might not own Iraq but we certainly are paying for it.

[rudy654-2009]

I find it amazing that stuff we already knew, but wasn''t making any headlines, just out of the blue makes a big splash of a headline. Yeah, duh. We already know that this who fiasco has been about deep pockets and no responsibility, no bid contracts. It has been a whirlwind of profit for all kinds of people.

[speakinup]

So what...

Ever hear of the pork our senators and congresspeople set up. Millions are NOTHING. It happens every day folks.